Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) – An effort to force Iowa’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Terry Branstad to choose a formal rival as his running mate failed Saturday but exposed a rift in the GOP that could potentially help Democrats in November.

Branstad’s hand-picked candidate for lieutenant governor, state Sen. Kim Reynolds, defeated Bob Vander Plaats at the Iowa Republican Party State Convention. Vander Plaats lost to Branstad in the gubernatorial primary earlier this month.

On Friday, Vander Plaats would not rule out an independent run for governor if he failed to win the lieutenant governor’s nomination. It was unclear if Vander Plaats would address the convention Saturday following his loss to Reynolds.

Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) - Republican leaders meeting in Des Moines on Saturday were hoping to close the book on a bitter primary battle for governor that pitted conservative-against-conservative in a struggle for control of the Republican Party.

Former Gov. Terry Branstad defeated Bob Vander Plaats and Rod Roberts for the GOP gubernatorial nomination earlier this month, but the hard-fought contest caused fractures within the party at a time when Republicans are ramping up efforts to try and defeat Democratic Gov. Chet Culver in November.

Roberts has endorsed Branstad, but Vander Plaats has not and acknowledged Friday that he is considering an independent bid for governor. At the same time, Vander Plaats' supporters are lobbying Branstad to choose the former rival as his running mate, which Vander Plaats said he would accept when asked during an interview on WHO News Radio 1040.

Tea Party Nation organized and held the first national Tea Party convention in Nashville, Tennessee in February.

(CNN) - A National Tea Party Unity convention that was scheduled to be held in Las Vegas in July will now take place in October, according to organizers.

The event, organized by Tea Party Nation (a national Tea Party organization) and Free America (a conservative non-profit group) and other organizations, will still be held at the Palazzo Las Vegas Resort. But Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips confirmed to CNN Saturday that the date is being moved from July 15-17 to October in order to hold the event closer to the midterm elections.

"We concluded it would more advantageous to hold the convention in the middle of October just prior to the November elections," says Phillips in a statement.

Brewer initially made the comments earlier this month during a debate of Republican gubernatorial candidates. She repeated them Friday when asked by a reporter for the basis of the claim.

"Well, we all know that the majority of the people that are coming to Arizona and trespassing are now becoming drug mules," Brewer said. "They're coming across our borders in huge numbers. The drug cartels have taken control of the immigration.

Elizabeth Edwards' daughter Cate is speaking out about the challenges her family has faced.

Elizabeth Edwards - and, for the first time, daughter Cate - are opening up about John Edwards's infidelity and the breakup of the marriage.

In PEOPLE's edition next week, Cate, 28, who lives in Washington and clerks for a federal judge, and her mother talk candidly about their relationships with John now, Elizabeth's cancer and other issues.

"There are the things she taught without words," Cate writes about her mother in a bonus essay for PEOPLE. Like, "how to continue to live your life on your own terms when it somehow becomes savaged by people you never invited into it."

(CNN) - Rep. Paul Ryan takes aim at Democrats for failing to pass a budget resolution in the weekly Republican radio and internet address Saturday.

“Talk about a recipe for disaster: Democrats are offering no budget, no priorities, and no restraints – yet all their taxing, borrowing, and spending continues unchecked,” says Ryan, the top Republican on the budget committee.

“With this budget failure – a first in the modern era – Democrats are missing a critical opportunity to provide the fiscal discipline economists say is needed to create private-sector jobs and boost our economy,” Ryan also says.
“This unprecedented budget collapse also sends a clear signal to American families struggling to meet their own budgets that Washington still doesn’t recognize the severity of its spending problem.”

(CNN) – President Obama is calling on Congress to pass the financial reform bill Democrats finalized earlier in the week.

“Getting this far on Wall Street reform hasn’t been easy. There are those who’ve fought tooth and nail to preserve the status quo. In recent months, they’ve spent millions of dollars and hired an army of lobbyists to stop reform dead in its tracks,” Obama said in his weekly radio and internet address Saturday.

“But because we refused to back down, and kept fighting, we now stand on the verge of victory. And I urge Congress to take us over the finish line, and send me a reform bill I can sign into law, so we can empower our people with consumer protections, and help prevent a financial crisis like this from ever happening again,” he also said.

A spokeswoman for University of California Stanislaus said the Palin event 'sold out in record time.'

(Updated with fundraising totals)

Washington (CNN) - After months of controversy, Sarah Palin's speech Friday night at a California state university brought in record amounts of money for the school. Palin spoke at a black-tie fundraising gala sponsored by a foundation of the California State University Stanislaus.

"The gala is on track to be the most successful fundraiser in the university's history," University of California Stanislaus spokeswoman Eve Hightower told CNN, adding the foundation will exceed its fundraising goal.

According Hightower, the event netted $200,000 plus there were $58,000 in donations of "in kind services."